A motor vehicle seat mounted for longitudinal sliding mobility of the type is already known from German DE-AS No. 1505747. This known motor vehicle seat largely solves the problem of keeping the foot space of a passenger sitting in the rear of a motor vehicle free of projecting ends of guide rails and, nevertheless, to ensure an adequate guide length for the motor vehicle seat. However, the known motor vehicle seat exhibits the disadvantage that it necessitates a substantial structural outlay due to the arrangement of two parallel, equal length, upright, C-shaped guide rails which are preferably secured directly to the vertical web plate of the central floor assembly tunnel or of the lateral longitudinal member.
Especially in the case of wide motor vehicle bodies of two-door construction, in which the two front motor vehicle seats mounted with longitudinal sliding mobility are made narrower in order to facilitate access to the rear three-seated bench seat, the bracing of the C-shaped guide rails directly on the lateral longitudinal members leads to the necessity of laterally projecting connecting trusses or brackets which are placed awkwardly in the access to the rear bench seat. Even if the C-shaped guide rails are not fixed directly to the lateral longitudinal members, but are braced against angle brackets fixed to the vehicle floor, the great guide length causes the ends of the guide rails to project in front of or behind the motor vehicle seat and to prejudice both the access to the rear bench seat and the foot space of the passengers sitting in the rear.
Furthermore, the known motor vehicle seat also exhibits the disadvantage that it requires (for the purpose of determining the desired seat position) a latch rail arranged within the C-shaped guide rail which cooperates with a latch device. The known motor vehicle seat further has the disadvantage that it fails to satisfy the desideratum of a modern motor vehicle seat to anchor at least the lock part of the safety belt directly on the seat frame.
The aim of the invention is to improve a motor vehicle seat of the type initially mentioned so that for a substantially reduced structural outlay better access and foot space conditions are achieved and, furthermore, a determination of the desired seat position and a reliable locking of the seat frame with reference to the guide rail in the case of accident stresses are achieved in a simple manner. This aim is achieved according to the invention in that a motor vehicle seat of the type initially defined exhibits the features disclosed in the patent claims.
Due to the fact that on the seat frame the connecting trusses or brackets adjacent the outer wall of the vehicle exhibit approximately half the mutual interval of the connecting trusses located centrally of the vehicle and the respective length of the guide rails corresponds to the interval of the slide blocks of one side plus the seat adjustment range, an asymmetrical arrangement of the C-shaped guide rails is achieved whereby in the region of access to the rear bench seat the ends of the guide rail adjacent the outer wall of the vehicle are no longer awkwardly present. Due to the fact that the arrangement of the connecting brackets on the seat frame forms, in plan, an equiangular or oblique parallelogram with its short side external to the vehicle, reliable guidance and bracing of the motor vehicle seat is achieved by the greater guide length of the guide rail at the inner side of the seat despite a short guide rail on the outer side of the seat.
Due to the fact that the C-shaped guide rail, at least the guide rail fixed to the web surface of the central floor assembly tunnel, is constructed at its downwardly bent longitudinal edge in its front part as a latch engageable rail provided with teeth for the latch device and in its rear part as a securing rail for a locking part, a simple determination of the desired seat position is permitted, and by the locking part designed in conformity with the prior German patent publication DE No. 28 20 589 for "Safety Belt Fastening Components for a Lengthwise Adjustable Motor Vehicle Seat" laid open to the public on Nov. 11, 1979, of the applicant company, a reliable locking of the seat frame with reference to the guide rail in the case of an accident stress is ensured.
Although the different construction of the C-shaped guide rails must initially be regarded as an increase in costs, it must nevertheless be pointed out that in this way the possibility is created to construct the guide rail at the outer side of the vehicle seat more simply in conformity with the lower stresses, whereas the guide rail on the inner side of the vehicle seat can be executed correspondingly stably and expensively in conformity with the higher stresses resulting from the anchorage of the safety belt lock section. Obviously, the two guide rails may nevertheless also possess the same construction, except for their different length.